Dreamcast New Chinese Dreamcast console shells being produced

[darcagn]

It's not really a secret, these are being manufactured by a guy named Kevin Chyi.
He's from Australia and it looks like he works for a company that makes computer hardware, perhaps he's leveraging contacts within China to manufacture some other things

He plans on having new colors ready around the end of the year. He ran a poll a while back asking what colors people would like to see:



They are already manufacturing a smoke gray version. Here are photos:




Many months ago he had some of these cases on Taobao where Chinese users could buy them or western people could buy through a proxy service. I skipped out at that time because I didn't really feel like jumping through those hoops but now that he's selling them on a western site I may grab one. I already have black and blue Dreamcasts though.

 

[hippo]

interesting, the eBay seller told me a similar story about new colors that will come out soon. The seller identified as Sandy, instead of Kevin. They may be related.

 

[Virtua Hunter]

All things considered (it seems a quality product) it's still a very high price, especially if they are made in a China factory and not 3D printed at home (just an example).

Unfortunately, I think that the nature of the project (like tha majority when retrogaming and nostalgia are involved) is to have limited quantity and high prices on purpose.

 

[Arcadia]

Love the smoke grey version. If I'll get my hands on one of those I might even sell my black Sega Sports Dreamcast.

 

[Anthony817]

Ah since I don't do the whole Facebook thing no wonder I haven';t seen it mentioned except for on Reddit. Very nice to learn more info about these. But damn, if only they could be made a bit more affordable. $100 USD almost when all is said and done after shipping for just a shell is a bit too rich for my blood...

 

[FamilyGuy]

Ah since I don't do the whole Facebook thing no wonder I haven';t seen it mentioned except for on Reddit. Very nice to learn more info about these. But damn, if only they could be made a bit more affordable. $100 USD almost when all is said and done after shipping for just a shell is a bit too rich for my blood...

Welcome to the wonderful world of international shipping fees and import taxes. It's not rare for us non-US people to almost pay double the price when an item is only available in the US. It can really be a dealbreaker on eBay or for niche stuff.

 

[Arcadia]

Yeah $22 for shipping something this bulky halfway across the world is pretty decent.

 

[Willie]

Found something very impressive on https://twitter.com/xmilu2

 

[Anthony817]

WOW! That is pretty fucking awesome! Nice find!

 

[dark]

Cool! Although its a little confusing that the dreamcast would have the sega saturn logo.

 

[Anthony817]

I 100% agree there. I mean it is cool that they are making a Skeleton Dreamcast based on the Saturn's color style and logo, but personally I just want an all solid color maybe with silver color polygonal plastic piece and no writing on the lid, with the Dreamcast Swirl on it. Maybe they will do the normal smoke black translucent one.

 

[psydefx]

would be neat if they could add the space for dchdmi as extra

 

[Solotaire]

This is (Very) cool!

 

[Anthony817]

would be neat if they could add the space for dchdmi as extra

Did somebody mention DCHDMI?





It appears the guys already showed off at least one of them with it, and the hole looks professionaly made.

 

[Teddy Rogers]

I bought one of the clear shells a few weeks ago. I can only comment on the quality of the shell (not fitting) as I have not got around to transplanting a Dreamcast motherboard in to it. If time permits I'll do this over the weekend. Visually these look very well made for custom shells. I was a bit hesitant prior to purchase though I can't find anything to fault visually. Everything from the quality of the plastic, switches, lid mechanism, springs, etc. look very well made. If anyone is thinking of buying one of these and wants me to take some photos before I install a board in there let me know.

I just checked the sellers eBay page and he now also sells the smoke black version. I believe there are going to be some custom colours coming out in future which will be great and a DCHDMI version. Hopefully there may be options to mix and match lid colours, etc.

My only wish is to see an improvement on the original Dreamcast shell design where the fan pushes out the hot air. One of the reasons why Dreamcasts can get so noisy is because of the air pushing past the vent fins...

Ted.

 

[SONIC3D]

Glad to see it on OG. Share something I knew for people who are interested in this custom shell:

1. Project initiator lives in China. Only one guy. So it's actually an indie gaming parts remake project.
2. Project started on later June 2018.(I have confirmed the chatting log, yes, it's been more than a whole year.)
3. Modeling fee is extremely high. And it's not just plastic shell, all parts includes.
4. No crowdfunding involved till the semi public test(early 2019). Paying all modeling fee, quality checking, model fixing, misc parts and package designing, all done by the project initiator himself. (Saturn shell accepted prepaid orders for the pressure of costs.)
5. Tested/refined for more than 4 passes within Chinese retro gaming community. Collected and fixed several minor problems.
6. I have tested the very early model. It suits VA1 board and DCHDMI perfectly(manually drilled the additional hole for mini HDMI). No doubt on later refined version.
7. Now he's focus on planning different small color batching and refining Saturn case model.
8. He has no plan for mass produce for considering of the license problem. So it's stay as a high quality and customized fan to fans modding product. Keep low profile in production is wiser for such thing. So you won't see it on Alibaba or public whole sale exporting platform in China, at least, in a short time.
9. There's no plan for any clear case controller. He said it's much more complicate on material side for something handled in-hand during game play. So better not now.
10. He once asked me if it's a good idea to make a special modded version for DCHDMI users. I suggest him not do that now for considering model refining cost and the count of DCHDMI users. Production on demand may be, in future.
11. Not yet considered of remaking shells for non-Sega consoles.

 

[Arcadia]

Well you can tell him it's much appreciated. Concerning DCHDMI, I'm sure the small port for mini-HDMI could be included for everyone instead of having two versions. I'm not sure if I want to upgrade to DCHDMI seeing as it's a bit of a hassle, but would be nice to have a clean way of upgrading later.

 

[FamilyGuy]

Well you can tell him it's much appreciated. Concerning DCHDMI, I'm sure the small port for mini-HDMI could be included for everyone instead of having two versions. I'm not sure if I want to upgrade to DCHDMI seeing as it's a bit of a hassle, but would be nice to have a clean way of upgrading later.

My opinion exactly, the hole would be so small not to interfere with normal setup, and it'd probably drive up sales of both cases and DCHDMI with people wanting a clean solution without the skills to do it but with the spare money.

 

[Arcadia]

These puppies are being scalped on Ebay France now, for an outrageous sum.

 

[SONIC3D]

Well you can tell him it's much appreciated. Concerning DCHDMI, I'm sure the small port for mini-HDMI could be included for everyone instead of having two versions. I'm not sure if I want to upgrade to DCHDMI seeing as it's a bit of a hassle, but would be nice to have a clean way of upgrading later.

My opinion exactly, the hole would be so small not to interfere with normal setup, and it'd probably drive up sales of both cases and DCHDMI with people wanting a clean solution without the skills to do it but with the spare money.

Thanks, I will tell him the idea that keep the mini-HDMI hole as a single version to avoid additional cost. I admit it's a pain to drill that hole. I spent more than 2 hours on it for I don't have enough proper tools.

And I will also contact DCHDMI author to confirm if the HDMI port maybe moved in future design.